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Rape statistics

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Statistics on rape and sexual assault are common in Western countries and are becoming more common throughout the world. Inconsistent definitions of rape, over reporting, under reporting and false reporting create controversial statistical disparities, and lead to accusations that many rape statistics are unreliable or misleading. According to USA Today reporter Kevin Johnson "no other major category of crime - not murder, assault or robbery - has generated a more serious challenge of the credibility of national crime statistics" than rape.[1]

A United Nations statistical report compiled from government sources showed that more than 250,000 cases of male-female rape or attempted rape were recorded by police annually. The reported data covered 65 countries.[2]

In some jurisdictions, male-female rape is the only form of rape counted in the statistics.[3]

Under- and over-reporting

According to the 2009 United States National Crime Victimization Survey estimates, only 55% of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement officials. When a male is raped, less than 10% are believed to be reported. Female-male and female-female rape are ignored altogether in this survey.

The most common reasons given by victims for not reporting rapes are the belief that it is a personal or private matter, and that they fear reprisal from the assailant. A 2007 government report in England says "Estimates from research suggest that between 75 and 95 per cent of rape crimes are never reported to the police."[4]

Traditional (male-female) focused rape-related advocacy groups have suggested several tactics to encourage the reporting of sexual assaults, most of which aim at lessening the psychological trauma, often suffered by female rape victims following their assault by male rapists. Many police departments now assign female police officers to deal with rape cases. Advocacy groups also argue for the preservation of the victim's privacy during the legal process; it is standard practice among mainstream American news media not to divulge the names of alleged rape victims in news reports but this practice is becoming increasingly controversial due to well publicized cases of false rape accusations. Traditional rape-related advocacy groups are also beginning to support male-male rape victims as well as male-female rape victims. Other advocacy groups that support male victims of female rape encourage recognition of female-male rape as rape rather than as a 'love affair', a 'relationship', or as a beneficial form of sex 'education'. However, female-male and female-female rape is rarely recognized as a statistically significant form of rape despite research indicating otherwise. Thus reporting rape by females remains difficult or impossible especially in jurisdictions where rape by a female is considered no crime or where the false perception persists that rape of a male by a female is impossible.[5]

False reporting

FBI reports consistently put the number of "unfounded" rape accusations around 8%. The average rate of unfounded reports for Index crimes is 2%.[6] However, “unfounded” is not synonymous with false allegation[7] and as Bruce Gross of the Forensic Examiner explains,

This statistic is almost meaningless, as many of the jurisdictions from which the FBI collects data on crime use different definitions of, or criteria for, "unfounded." That is, a report of rape might be classified as unfounded (rather than as forcible rape) if the alleged victim did not try to fight off the suspect, if the alleged perpetrator did not use physical force or a weapon of some sort, if the alleged victim did not sustain any physical injuries, or if the alleged victim and the accused had a prior sexual relationship. Similarly, a report might be deemed unfounded if there is no physical evidence or too many inconsistencies between the accuser's statement and what evidence does exist. As such, although some unfounded cases of rape may be false or fabricated, not all unfounded cases are false.[8]

The largest and most rigorous study was commissioned by the British Home Office and based on 2,643 sexual assault cases (Kelly, Lovett, and Regan, 2005). Of these, 8% were classified by the police department as false reports. Yet the researchers noted that some of these classifications were based simply on the personal judgments of the police investigators and were made in violation of official criteria for establishing a false allegation. Closer analysis of this category applying the Home Office counting rules for establishing a false allegation and excluding cases where the application of the cases where confirmation of the designation was uncertain reduced the percentage of false reports to 3%. The researchers concluded that "one cannot take all police designations at face value" and that "[t]here is an over-estimation of the scale of false allegations by both police officers and prosecutors." Moreover, they added:

The interviews with police officers and complainants’ responses show that despite the focus on victim care, a culture of suspicion remains within the police, even amongst some of those who are specialists in rape investigations. There is also a tendency to conflate false allegations with retractions and withdrawals, as if in all such cases no sexual assault occurred. This reproduces an investigative culture in which elements that might permit a designation of a false complaint are emphasised (later sections reveal how this also feeds into withdrawals and designation of ‘insufficient evidence’), at the expense of a careful investigation, in which the evidence collected is evaluated.[9][10]

Another large-scale study was conducted in Australia, with the 850 rapes reported to the Victoria police between 2000 and 2003 (Heenan & Murray, 2006). Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the researchers examined 812 cases with sufficient information to make an appropriate determination, and found that 2.1% of these were classified by police as false reports. All of these complainants were then charged or threatened with charges for filing a false police report.[11]


Authors A.W. Burgess and R.R. Hazelwood observe that "little is published which addresses the issue and concept of false allegation." The classification of "false reporting" makes no distinction between women who wilfully misreport and women who mistakenly identify innocent men.[12] Figures on false reporting used by journalists have ranged from 2% to 50% depending on their sources:

"... one explanation for such a wide range in the statistics might simply be that they come from different studies of different populations... But there's also a strong political tilt to the debate. A low number would undercut a belief about rape as being as old as the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife: that some women, out of shame or vengeance ... claim that their consensual encounters or rebuffed advances were rapes. If the number is high, on the other hand, advocates for women who have been raped worry it may also taint the credibility of the genuine victims of sexual assault."[13]

In her work, "The Legacy of the Prompt Complaint Requirement, Corroboration Requirement, and Cautionary Instructions on Campus Sexual Assault", Michelle J. Anderson of the Villanova University School of Law states: "As a scientific matter, the frequency of false rape complaints to police or other legal authorities remains unknown.".[14]

In 1994, Dr. Eugene J. Kanin of Purdue University investigated the incidences, in one small unidentified urban community, of false rape allegations made to the police between 1978 and 1987. Dr. Kanin asserts that "unlike those in many larger jurisdictions, this police department had the resources to "seriously record and pursue to closure all rape complaints, regardless of their merits". He further states each investigation "always involves a serious offer to polygraph the complainants and the suspects." and "the complainant must admit that no rape had occurred. She is the sole agent who can say that the rape charge is false." The falseness of the allegations was not decided by the police, Dr. Kanin, nor upon physical or testimonial evidence. The number of false rape allegations concluded in the studied period was 45; this was 41% of the 109 total complaints filed in this period.

Criticism of Dr. Kanin's report include Dr. David Lisak, an associate professor of psychology, and director of the Men’s Sexual Trauma Research Project at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. In the September/October 2007 issue of the Sexual Assault Report he states “Kanin’s 1994 article on false allegations is a provocative opinion piece, but it is not a scientific study of the issue of false reporting of rape. It certainly should never be used to assert a scientific foundation for the frequency of false allegations.” He further states “[Dr. Kanin] simply reiterates the opinions of the police officers who concluded that the cases in question were ‘false allegations.’” Lisak cites page 13 of Investigating Sexual Assaults from the International Association of Chiefs of Police which says polygraph tests for sexual assault victims are contradicted in the investigation process and that their use is “based on the misperception that a significant percentage of sexual assault reports are false...It is noteworthy that the police department from which Kanin derived his data threatened to use the polygraph in every case...The fact that it was the standard procedure of this department provides a window on the biases of the officers who conducted the rape investigations, biases that were then echoed in Kanin’s unchallenged reporting of their findings.” Lisak later performed his own study, published in 2010 in Violence Against Women, which found a false allegation rate of 5.9%.

A 2006 paper by N.S. Rumney in the Cambridge Law Journal provided an exhaustive account of studies of false reporting in the USA, New Zealand and the UK.[15] Rumney notes that early researchers tended to accept uncritically Freudian theories which purported to explain the prevalence of false allegations, while in more recent literature there has been "a lack of critical analysis of those who claim a low false reporting rate and the uncritical adoption of unreliable research findings" (p. 157) Rumney concludes that "as a consequence of such deficiencies within legal scholarship, factual claims have been repeatedly made that have only limited empirical support. This suggests widespead analytical failure on the part of legal scholarship and requires an acknowledgement of the weakness of assumptions that have been constructed on unreliable research evidence".

UN Statistics

This list indicates the number of, and per capita cases of recorded rape. It does not include cases of rape which go unreported, or which are not recorded.[16] Nor does it specify whether recorded means reported, brought to trial, or convicted. Nor does it take the different definition of rape around the world into account.

Country 2008 Count 2009 Count 2008 Rate / 100,000 2009 Rate / 100,000
Argentina 3,276 8.3
Armenia 8 19 0.3 0.6
Azerbaijan 34 25 0.4 0.3
Bahrain 21 36 2.8 4.6
Belarus 336 240 3.5 2.5
Belgium 3,111 2,786 29.5 26.3
Bulgaria 225 262 2.9 3.5
Cameroon 447 2.4
Canada 528 491 1.6 1.5
Chile 1,980 2,233 11.9 13.3
Croatia 162 188 3.7 4.3
Cyprus 19 34 2.2 3.9
Czech Republic 637 529 6.2 5.1
Denmark 492 396 9.0 7.3
Egypt 63 87 0.1 0.1
Estonia 122 160 9.1 11.9
Finland 739 915 14.0 17.2
France 10,132 10,277 16.4 16.6
Germany 7,511 7,292 9.1 8.9
Greece 218 2.0
Guinea 92 1.0
Hungary 468 489 4.7 4.9
Iceland 87 68 28.2 21.6
Israel 1,270 1,243 18.3 17.6
Japan 1,766 1,582 1.4 1.2
Kazakhstan 1,518 1,298 9.9 8.4
Kenya 876 735 2.3 1.9
Kyrgyzstan 300 303 5.6 5.6
Latvia 93 100 4.1 4.4
Lesotho 1,797 1,878 88.4 91.6
Liechtenstein 1 3 2.8 8.4
Lithuania 200 164 6.0 4.9
Luxembourg 44 57 9.3 11.9
Maldives 5 9 1.7 3.0
Malta 10 19 2.5 4.7
Mauritius 77 69 6.1 5.4
Mongolia 355 354 13.6 13.4
Morocco 1,215 1,130 3.9 3.6
New Zealand 1,314 1,308 31.3 30.9
Norway 945 944 20.0 19.8
Oman 132 183 4.8 6.6
Philippines 2,409 2,585 2.7 2.9
Poland 1,827 1,611 4.8 4.2
Portugal 305 317 2.9 3.0
Republic of Moldova 231 262 6.3 7.2
Romania 1,047 1,016 4.9 4.8
Russian Federation 7,038 6,208 5.0 4.4
Sierra Leone 135 79 2.5 1.4
Slovakia 182 152 3.4 2.8
Slovenia 97 57 4.8 2.8
Solomon Islands 61 56 12.2 11.0
Spain 2,530 2,437 5.7 5.5
Sudan 1,189 2.9
Sweden* 4,269 4,901 46.6 53.2
Switzerland 648 612 8.6 8.1
Syrian Arab Republic 125 156 0.6 0.7
Turkey 1,148 1,071 1.6 1.4
Uganda 599 1,536 2.0 4.9
Ukraine 878 880 1.9 1.9
United Kingdom (England and Wales) 12,637 13,093 23.4 24.1
United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) 422 396 24.0 22.3
United States of America 90,427 89,000 29.3 28.6
Zimbabwe 4,762 3,186 38.3 25.6
  • Note *: The definition of rape in the Swedish law is 'a person who by violence involves; or appears to threatened person to involve imminent danger; forces another person to have sexual intercourse or to engage in a comparable sexual act; that having regard to the nature of the violence and the circumstances in general; is comparable to enforced sexual intercourse'.

United States

Main article: Rape in the United States

According to United States Department of Justice document Criminal Victimization in the United States, there were overall 191,670 victims of rape or sexual assault reported in 2005.[17] 1 of 6 U.S. women has experienced an attempted or completed rape. (according to Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault)[18] The U.S. Department of Justice compiles statistics on crime by race, but only between and among people categorized as black or white. The statistics for whites include hispanic and non hispanic whites combined. There were 194,270 white and 17,920 black victims of rape or sexual assault reported in 2006. Out of the 194,270 cases involving white victims, 50.6% had white offenders and 16.7% had black offenders, while the 36,620 black victims had a figure of 43% black offenders, the remaining being of other or unreported race, with a negligible number of white offenders.[19] Some types of rape are excluded from official reports altogether; the FBI's definition for example excludes all rapes except forcible rapes of females, a significant number of rapes go unreported even when they are included as reportable rapes, and a significant number of rapes reported to the police do not advance to prosecution.[20]

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (1999) estimated that 91% of rape victims are female and 9% are male, with 99% of the offenders being male.[21] Denov (2004) states that societal responses to the issue of female perpetrators of sexual assault "point to a widespread denial of women as potential sexual aggressors that could work to obscure the true dimensions of the problem."[22]

According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the adjusted per-capita victimization rate of rape has declined from about 2.4 per 1000 people (age 12 and above) in 1980 to about 0.4 per 1000 people, a decline of about 85%.[23] But other government surveys, such as the Sexual Victimization of College Women study, critique the NCVS on the basis it includes only those acts perceived as crimes by the victim, and report a higher victimization rate.[24]

From 2000-2005, 59% of rapes were not reported to law enforcement.[25][26] One factor relating to this is misconception that most rapes are committed by strangers.[27] In reality, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 38% of victims were raped by a friend or acquaintance, 28% by "an intimate" and 7% by another relative, and 26% were committed by a stranger to the victim. About four out of ten sexual assaults take place at the victim's own home.[28]

Drug use, especially alcohol, is frequently involved in rape. In 47% of rapes, both the victim and the perpetrator had been drinking. In 17%, only the perpetrator had been. 7% of the time, only the victim had been drinking. Rapes where neither the victim nor the perpetrator had been drinking were 29% of all rapes.[29]

Contrary to widespread belief, rape outdoors is rare. Over two thirds of all rapes occur in someone's home. 30.9% occur in the perpetrators' homes, 26.6% in the victims' homes and 10.1% in homes shared by the victim and perpetrator. 7.2% occur at parties, 7.2% in vehicles, 3.6% outdoors and 2.2% in bars.[29]

According to a statistical average over the past 5 years, about 60% of all rapes or sexual assaults in the United States are never reported to the authorities.

Despite a decline of 60% since 1993, the US still has a relatively high rate of rape when compared to other developed countries.[30] For more information, please see the statistics subsection of the article Rape in the United States.

Sweden

Sweden has the highest incidence of reported rapes in Europe and one of the highest in the world. According to a 2009 study, there were 46 incidents of rape per 100,000 residents. This figure is double as many as in the UK which reports 23 cases, and four times that of the other Nordic countries, Germany and France. The figure is up to 20 times the figure for certain countries in southern and eastern Europe.[31]

United Kingdom

Main article: Sexual offences in the United Kingdom

According to a news report on BBC One presented in 12 November 2007, there were 85,000 women raped in the UK in the previous year, equating to about 230 cases every day. According to that report one of every 200 women in the UK was raped in 2006. The report also showed that only 800 persons were convicted in rape crimes that same year.[32][33]

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Main article: Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In eastern Congo, the prevalence and intensity of rape and other sexual violence is described as the worst in the world.[34] It is estimated that there are as many as 200,000 surviving rape victims living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today.[35][36] War rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo has frequently been described as a "weapon of war" by commentators. Louise Nzigire, a local social worker, states that “this violence was designed to exterminate the population.” Nzigire observes that rape has been a "cheap, simple weapon for all parties in the war, more easily obtainable than bullets or bombs."

South Africa

Main article: Sexual violence in South Africa

It is estimated that a woman born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped than learning how to read.[37] One in three of the 4,000 women questioned by the Community of Information, Empowerment and Transparency said they had been raped in the past year.[38]

South Africa has some of the highest incidences of child and baby rape in the world.[39] In a related survey conducted among 1,500 schoolchildren in the Soweto township, a quarter of all the boys interviewed said that 'jackrolling', a term for gang rape, was fun.[38] More than 25% of a sample of 1,738 South African men from the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces admitted when anonymously questioned to raping someone; of those, nearly half said they had raped more than one person, according to a non-peer reviewed policy brief issued by the Medical Research Council (MRC).[40] Several news publications extrapolated these results to the rest of the South African population.[41][42][43] The humanitarian news organization IRIN claims that an estimated 500,000 rapes are committed annually in South Africa, but does not provide a source for this figure.[43]

More than 67,000 cases of rape and sexual assaults against children were reported in 2000 in South Africa.[citation needed] Child welfare groups believe that the number of unreported incidents could be up to 10 times that number. [citation needed] A belief common to South Africa holds that sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure a man of HIV or AIDS. [citation needed] South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive citizens in the world. According to official figures[citation needed], one in eight South Africans are infected with the virus. Edith Kriel, a social worker who helps child victims in the Eastern Cape, said: “Child abusers are often relatives of their victims - even their fathers and providers.”[44]

According to University of Durban-Westville anthropology lecturer and researcher Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, the myth that sex with a virgin is a cure for AIDS is not confined to South Africa. “Fellow AIDS researchers in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria have told me that the myth also exists in these countries and that it is being blamed for the high rate of sexual abuse against young children.”[45]

Other

Most rape research and reporting to date has been limited to male-female forms of rape. Research on male-male and female-male is beginning to be done. However, almost no research has been done on female-female rape, though women can be charged with rape.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rape statistics not crystal clear" by Kevin Johnson, USA Today, November 19, 1998
  2. ^ The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2001 - 2002) - Table 02.08 Total recorded rapes
  3. ^ Statistics can be misleading 08/08/04
  4. ^ Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Without consent: A report on the joint review of the investigation and prosecution of rape offences, January 2007 accessed at [1] April 5, 2007 - p.8
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ Crime Index Offenses Reported[dead link] 1996
  7. ^ http://www.oregonsatf.org/resources/docs/False_Allegations.pdf
  8. ^ [theforensicexaminer.com/archive/spring09/15/ False Rape Allegations: An Assault On Justice]
  9. ^ A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases Home Office Research - February 2005
  10. ^ Cybulska B (2007). "Sexual assault: key issues". J R Soc Med. 100 (7): 321–4. doi:10.1258/jrsm.100.7.321. PMC 1905867. PMID 17606752. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  11. ^ "Abstracts Database - National Criminal Justice Reference Service". Ncjrs.gov. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  12. ^ Hazelwood, R. R., & Burgess, A. W. (2001). Practical aspects of rape investigation: a multidisciplinary approach. CRC series in practical aspects of criminal and forensic investigations. CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0076-2 - p.178
  13. ^ The Elusive Numbers on False Rape November/December 1997
  14. ^ The Legacy of the Prompt Complaint Requirement, Corroboration Requirement, and Cautionary Instructions on Campus Sexual Assault Forthcoming
  15. ^ Rumney, N.S., "False Allegations of Rape", Cambridge Law Journal, 65, March, 2006, pp.128-158 (journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=430300)
  16. ^ http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Crime-statistics/Sexual_violence_sv_against_children_and_rape.xls
  17. ^ United States Department of Justice document, (table 26)
  18. ^ Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault: Statistics
  19. ^ United States Department of Justice document, (table 42)
  20. ^ Dick Haws, "The Elusive Numbers on False Rape," Columbian Journalism Review (November/December 1997).[3]
  21. ^ "UCSC Rape Prevention Education: Rape Statistics". www2.ucsc.edu. Retrieved 2008-01-01. The study was conducted in Detroit, USA.
  22. ^ Myriam S. Denov, Perspectives on Female Sex Offending: A Culture of Denial (Ashgate Publishing 2004) - ISBN.
  23. ^ Anthony D'Amato. Porn Up, Rape Down. Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No.
  24. ^ Bonnie S. Fisher, Francis T. Cullen, Michael G. Turner. Sexual Victimization of College Women
  25. ^ "Statistics". www.rainn.org. Retrieved 2008-01-01. {{cite web}}: Text "Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network" ignored (help)
  26. ^ Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Extent, nature, and consequences of intimate partner violence: findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington (DC): Department of Justice (US); 2000. Publication No.: NCJ 181867. Available from: URL: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/ 181867.htm.
  27. ^ http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/210346.pdf
  28. ^ Bureau of Justice Statistics Home page
  29. ^ a b Abbey, A., BeShears, R., Clinton-Sherrod, A. M., & McAuslan, P. (2004). Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 323-332."Similarities and differences in women's sexual assault experiences based on tactics used by the perpetrator". Accessed 9 July 2008.
  30. ^ http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/frequency-of-sexual-assault
  31. ^ http://www.thelocal.se/19102/20090427/
  32. ^ article by the home editor of the BBC (Mark Easton)
  33. ^ Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2006/07
  34. ^ Prevalence of Rape in E.Congo Described as Worst in World
  35. ^ Kira Cochrane talks to filmmaker Lisa F Jackson on her documentary about rape in the Congo
  36. ^ A Conversation with Eve Ensler: Femicide in the Congo
  37. ^ Rape- silent war on SA women
  38. ^ a b South Africa’s rape shock
  39. ^ Oprah scandal rocks South Africa
  40. ^ Jewkes, Rachel (2009). UNDERSTANDING MEN’S HEALTH AND USE OF VIOLENCE: INTERFACE OF RAPE AND HIV IN SOUTH AFRICA (PDF) (Report). South African Medical Research Council. Retrieved 24 October 2010. {{cite report}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  41. ^ "South African rape survey shock." BBC News. June 18, 2009.
  42. ^ "Quarter of men in South Africa admit rape, survey finds". The Guardian. June 17, 2009.
  43. ^ a b "SOUTH AFRICA: One in four men rape". IRIN Africa. June 18, 2009.
  44. ^ South African men rape babies as 'cure' for Aids
  45. ^ Child rape: A taboo within the AIDS taboo

Further reading

  • Macdonalds, J. (2007). Rape. In The World Book Encyclopedia. United States of America: World Book Inc.
  • Rape (2007). In The New Encyclopædia Britannica (Vol. 9). Chicago, Il.: Britannica.
  • Howard, Angela & Kavenik Francis. (2000). Handbook of American Women's History. CA: Sage Publications Inc.


Health Canada report on male victims

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